Ali Abbas

SANA

August 11, 2012, in Damascus, Syria

Abbas, head of domestic news at the state-run SANA news
agency, was killed
by unidentified gunmen at his home in the Jdaidat Artouz District of Damascus,
according to his employer.

SANA said he was killed by "armed terrorist groups" as part
of a campaign to silence government-aligned media, but the agency provided no
further details. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported
that unidentified gunmen shot Abbas in his home, according to news
reports.

Al-Nusra Front, an armed Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda,
claimed responsibility for Abbas' killing in an August 17 statement. The claim
could not be independently corroborated. Abbas, 42, was born in the coastal
city of Latakia and earned a journalism degree from the University of Damascus,
according to news reports.